Certain therapies such as immune globulin therapy can be self-administered by a patient or by a caregiver to a patient in the comfort of the patient's home. Infusion therapies require the user or caregiver to insert one or more needles into the patient's body. While some patients have no difficulty self-inserting needles or receiving needles in their body, other patients are sensitive to the pain of the injection or are uncomfortable seeing needles or injecting needles into their body. In particular, many children have difficulty receiving infusion therapy due to the pain of needle insertion or fear of needles.
The method in which the needle is injected into the tissue is relevant to preventing pain. Research has shown that the speed of the insertion of the needle is important to protect the tissue layers from rupturing and reduce the pain of the insertion. When a needle is slowly inserted into the tissue, more rupture events are observed in the tissue as compared to the rapid insertion of a needle into tissue.
Topical anesthesia is one way to help alleviate the pain at the site of the insertion. Topical creams may be applied in advance of the insertion of a needle to help numb the skin. These creams may take some time to take effect and some people are sensitive to components in the creams. Other methods for topical anesthesia include contacting the skin with low temperatures to numb the area or using vibrations on the surface of the skin near the injection site.
Many of the therapies that require infusions are given on a weekly or biweekly basis and some even more frequently. In order to streamline the infusion process, it would be helpful to have a device that overcomes many of the difficulties associated with injecting needles into the body such as alleviating pain, and alleviating patient fears. There remains a need for a device for injecting needles into patients who are sensitive to the pain of the injection or are uncomfortable seeing needles or injecting needles into their body.